Senate girds for fight on health care reconciliation

While the White House makes plans for President Obama to sign a sweeping healthcare measure passed by the House on Sunday night, the Senate is set to start debate on a reconciliation bill that would make changes in the overhaul legislation.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate debate was likely to start on Tuesday, following Obama's signoff on the main health bill. White House and legislative aides say the signing would also take place at some point on Tuesday.

White House officials met on Monday to discuss their approach to the Senate debate on the reconciliation package, but said at this point that they want to give Reid room to operate.

"The ball is in their court," one aide said about the Senate's Democratic leaders.

Senate aides from both parties met for about an hour on Monday with Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin, whose rulings will determine whether the Senate can pass the fixes package this week. Aides said Frumin did not indicate how he will rule.

"Both sides made their cases, but no verdict as yet," said one Senate aide.

Republicans are preparing to try to derail the reconciliation bill by using budget points of order that would require 60 votes to block. Democrats want Frumin to prevent votes on Republican points of order that are intended to knock out all or parts of the bill.

Any change would force the House to vote again on the bill, although it would not affect enactment of the original Senate bill.

A key GOP challenge will focus on changes to the "Cadillac tax" on high-value plans included in the reconciliation bill. Republicans argue that the changes are prohibited by the Congressional Budget Act because they would affect Social Security tax revenue.

Democrats are expected to argue that there is a less-direct impact on Social Security than the law contemplates.

Reconciliation allows 20 hours of debate. The Senate will then start a "vote-a-rama" on a long list of GOP amendments. It remains unclear how long that will take, but aides from both parties said the bill can pass by Friday. The key will be whether Frumin at some point judges amendments to have become dilatory, the equivalent of a filibuster, which is not allowed under reconciliation.

Reid has at least 52 commitments from Senate Democrats to pass the bill, which requires a simple majority, according to leadership aides.

Senate leaders, eager to avoid changes to the bill, anticipate Democratic senators will avoid offering amendments to the measure, aides said. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., last week reached a deal with Reid to drop plans for an amendment to create a public insurance plan in the bill in exchange for a vote in coming months on a public option.

While most of the focus shifted to the Senate, the White House was moving to help House Democrats who voted for the measure on Sunday. The White House is planning for the president to take a victory tour to both celebrate passage of the bill and offer protection to embattled incumbent Democrats who voted for it. The first stop will be Thursday, when the president returns to Iowa City. It was there, in May 2007, that then-candidate Obama unveiled his healthcare plans.

George E. Condon Jr. contributed to this story.